Trump Cabinet

The Cabinet of the United States (Wikipedia) is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, who are generally the heads of the federal executive departments.

Trump has 43 confirmed appointees to senior posts, compared with the 151 top political appointees confirmed by mid-June in President Barack Obama’s first term and the 130 under President George W. Bush, according to data tracked by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition.

2017.06.29

The Trump administration has appointed an activist who led a campaign to restrict bathroom access for transgender students to the office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the US Agency for International Development.buzzfeed.com(See also Conflicts of Interest, LGBTQIA)

Dourson “writes books matching science and Biblical text,” according to his Twitter profile on Tuesday afternoon.

2017.07.27

White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said that he doesn't know if his relationship with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus can be repaired, and he urged Priebus to publicly prove that he has not leaked damaging information to the media.washingtonpost.com(See also Reince Priebus, Unprecedented Actions)

Despite what Donald Trump says publicly, the tax plan that his administration outlined is a potentially huge windfall for the wealthiest Americans - including Trump and his cabinet - would not directly benefit the bottom third of the population, and provide mixed to modest results for the middle class.nytimes.com(See also False Statements, Trump Taxes, Economy)

The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with Donald Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks.nytimes.com(See also Rex Tillerson, Department of State, Mike Pompeo)

A transition plan would install Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, as secretary of state, and tap Senator Tom Cotton to lead the spy agency.

2017.12.05

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Kirstjen M. Nielsen as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, installing a close confidant of White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to lead the federal agency responsible for carrying out many of Donald Trump’s most ambitious domestic policy plans.washingtonpost.com(See also John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security)

2018.01.08

The White House is considering finding a role for Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s first pick for labor secretary, who withdrew his nomination in February after old allegations of domestic abuse resurfaced.politico.com(See also Women, Reversals)

2018.02.14

Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin’s chief of staff doctored an email and made false statements to create a pretext for taxpayers to cover expenses for the secretary’s wife on a 10-day trip to Europe last summer, the agency’s inspector general has found.washingtonpost.com(See also False Statements)

Shulkin is one of five current and former Trump administration Cabinet members under investigation by agency inspectors general over their travel expenses.

2018.02.15

Nearly a year into Donald Trump's administration, senior-level staffers -- including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Rob Porter -- remained on interim clearances, along with more than 100 staffers in the Executive Office, even as other senior advisers were granted full security access.cnn.com(See also Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Administration Errors)

Assessments

Evan Osnos – The New Yorker

"But the most remarkable thing about McConnell’s desire to “get past” the process of vetting before the vetting has happened is not what it says about his commitment to political tribalism above all other values. That was already well-established, after all. No, the truly remarkable story it reveals involves the sheer recklessness of the incoming Administration. The vetting process is not, as some of Trump’s neophyte advisers might suspect, just a ritual performed for weak-kneed “goo-goos,” the good-government types in comfortable shoes. On the contrary, it is meant to be a cold-eyed political demolition derby: a controlled explosion that can protect an Administration by preventing a problem appointee from getting inside the inner sanctum."